Cramped cave
by Maydrei
Summary: Zuko and Katara get lost in a blizzard, and crawl into a cave to keep warm. Complete. [Are you alright?] [He couldn't quite hear her,he was rather distracted because her hand was settled on the inside of his thigh]
1. Chapter 1

Slight OCC. I tried to keep them in character…but, I don't think I did that well.

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Zuko groaned and sat up stiffly, gently pushing Katara off him. She whimpered and clutched her leg, biting her lip so hard it bleed. Zuko glanced at her and asked, "Is it broken?"

She shook her head. "No, but it—" she hissed slightly as a shock of pain streamed up her leg "feels worse."

"Just heal it," he grumbled, rubbing his head.

"I can't, my canteen was ripped off when we fell," Katara said stiffly, experimentally trying to stretch her leg out, only to retract it quickly as her face scrunched up in pain.

_Damn_. Zuko had been hoping she would be able to heal the collection of gashes he had received.

The day had started out normally enough. Zuko and his uncle had been with the avatar for nearly a month, and they were traveling over a mountainous area on Appa when suddenly the snow started coming down heavily and made it hard for Appa to see where he was going. The group had been looking for a safe place to land when suddenly the wind had picked up and Appa had trouble flying straight. As the giant bison struggled to stay in the air, the wind had suddenly caused him to tip to the side. Surprised and on the very edge of the saddle, Katara had fallen out with a scream, and in her panic grabbed onto the closest thing next to her—Zuko.

Of course, he was just as surprised as her to find himself falling from the sky at least twenty feet above a forest, not to mention at least another thirty to the ground once you measured the trees. But, he was a price after all, and doing the honorable thing he had grabbed Katara tucked her into his chest as he fell, taking the brunt of the trees as they fell. The branches had managed to cut his face (Zuko was amazed he hadn't lost an eye) and arms, while Katara had only gotten injured when they hit the ground.

"Are you alright?" Katara asked after a moment's hesitation.

Zuko coughed and stood, much to his body's protest. "Fine," he muttered. "Can you stand?" he asked, not sounding really interested. Of course he wouldn't leave her there, but he didn't want to have to carry a girl on his back around all day.

Katara carefully pushed herself to her feet and switched some of her weight of her leg in question. After a sharp hiss of breath and a few tears in her eyes, Zuko took that as a no.

He sighed, irritated, and put a hand to his face. Alright, well, the rest of the group probably had problems of their own so they wouldn't find them soon, and the snow was picking up. He had a feeling it would turn into a blizzard soon. "Look, we should get out of the cold."

He walked over to Katara. "Get on my back."

Katara stared at him. "You're joking." During the previous month, Zuko had failed all of her hopes of having changed. He was just as anti-social, moody, and rude as before, only having changed slightly in the fact he no longer attacked her every time they made eye-contact, which he kept to a minimum.

"Get on or I'll drag you," he hissed, reaching for her arm.

"Alright!" After a small hesitation, Katara warily got onto his back. He shifted her, hooking his arms under her knees—careful not to jostle her injured leg—and began walking. "Do you even know where we're going?" Katara now had to raise her voice because of the wind's howling. Katara was surprised at how warm his back was, but then she realized that should have been obvious due to the fact he was a fire-bender.

"While we were on Appa I saw a kind of cliff, I think we can find a cave there."

And Zuko was right. He wasn't walking long before they came to a small cliff, and after a bit of walking up and down it, they found a hole large enough for both of them. Zuko carried her inside and set her down, then scooted as far away from her as possible. The cave wasn't very high of large, but it would do.

Katara was overjoyed to find that it was damp in the cave and hurriedly gathered all she could to heal her leg. Once the pain receded, she let out a relieved sigh and smiled, closing her eyes. But she was still freezing. Glancing at the cave's opening, she could see snow whipping inside, and along with it the cold.

Hoping that there was enough water in the cave to do what she planned, Katara pushed it towards the opening and formed a thing wall of water, quickly freezing it. It kept the snow and most of the cold out, and Katara leaned back against the cave wall, still shivering slightly.

Zuko watched her as she worked, his knees drawn up to his chest to keep him warm. He saw her shiver and frowned—if he, a fire bender was still cold, then she must feel like she had just been doused in ice water.

Katara felt his eyes on her and turned, suddenly ashamed. "Oh, Zuko, I'm sorry, I forgot about you." She shuffled over and Zuko watched her carefully. She gathered what little water was left in the cave and gathered it in her palm, running it over Zuko's face. He stiffened as her cold hand touched his skin, surprised at how close she was, but Katara didn't notice. Her face was determined as she healed the cuts on his face and then began pushing the now-torn sleeves of his shirt up his arms to heal those too. Zuko couldn't help it as goose-bumps rose on his skin, and shrank slightly away from her. During all his time with the group, Katara was the one (after Aang) that he had avoided most, due to all the previous…disagreements they had. But right now she was in her element, and it didn't matter who it was that she was helping, only that she could and was helping.

Once she was done, Katara stayed kneeled before him, her hands on his right arm.

"Katara."

She blinked and pulled her hands away, looking sheepish. She had forgotten where she was for a moment and was only focusing on keeping her hands warm. "Sorry…it's just…" her body trembled with another shiver.

Zuko was about to bend some fire in to his hand when he stopped himself. Creating a fire in such a small confined space wasn't smart, not only would it suck up the oxygen, but the smoke would burn their eyes and throat.

"Zuko, can't you…?"

He shook his head and explained what he had just realized.

Katara's face fell. "Oh, right…" She glanced at him, wondering. He would probably say no. But still, she risked frostbite if she didn't warm herself soon. Then again, she blushed just at the thought of asking him, never mind pressing against him to keep warm. Back in her village, she and Saaka had done the same thing when blizzards passed, but he was her brother. Zuko was a fire bender; her up to a few weeks ago hated enemy, never mind the price of the fire nation.

Zuko leaned his head back and closed his eyes, preparing to conserve energy and go to sleep. Katara sat there, shivering, then finally decided to screw her embarrassment.

Zuko was just drifting off when he was shocked to feel Katara's hand's on his knees. He ignored it, not caring what she was doing, until suddenly he felt her begin to push his legs apart. Confused as hell, he jerked up and opened his eyes, to see Katara blushing madly and not meeting his eyes, but staring hungrily at his chest.

"Just what on earth do you think you're doing?" he demanded. His momentary shock from when he felt Katara's hands on him had made his inner fire to spike as a natural reaction, and Katara couldn't help it, she pushed past his legs and pressed herself to his chest.

After a moment of basking in the seductive warmth of his body, Katara realized what she had done, possibly due to the fact that Zuko had become stiff as a board. She decided that acting as embarrassed as she felt would make her seem weak and give Zuko a chance to protest, so she went bold. "Zuko, I am freezing, and you are warm. There is a blizzard outside, and I'm not moving until the risk of frostbite is gone," she said crisply, hoping she sounded confident and determined.

Zuko couldn't quite hear her, he was rather distracted because her hand was settled on the inside of his thigh, rather too close for comfort. He recalled what she had said and nodded stiffly, struggling to keep his voice steady, and said, "Fine, just move so that you're back's to me, it'll be more comfortable."

Katara gave him a quick smile and flipped, pressing herself against him. Zuko sat there, ridged, as Katara tried to get comfortable while still having every possible body part against his broad chest. He clenched his fist to keep a small flame from exploding from them as Katara shifted her hips, thus—completely unknown to her—grinding her bottom against his groin. Ever muscle in his body was tensed until she stopped squirming, and even then he had to bite the inside of his cheek to remind himself it would not be appropriate to shove her off him, or to pull her closer and…okay, it would just be inappropriate. Of course he had urges before, but before he had been able to control them. Keeping his self-control was a struggle, and he wasn't used to that.

But soon Katara stopped squirming and feel asleep, her head resting on his shoulder, and Zuko soon forgot what he had previously been thinking. The muffled sound of the howling wind outside of the cave was strangely calming. He let himself relax, and lazily wrapped an arm around Katara. But he immediately noticed how cold she felt, and wrapped his other arm around her, gently shaking the girl. She grumbled and asked, "What…? Wait, where…?" She looked down at the arms surrounding her, then twisted and saw Zuko's face. "Zuko?" she cried, bursting up.

"Calm down!" Zuko said loudly.

Katara closed her mouth and remembered, shivering madly. She sneezed, and Zuko rolled his eyes. "Katara, look, just…get back here." She nodded and scrambled back over to him, curling up against him. Zuko could feel her shiver against him and hurriedly wrapped both arms around her tightly, quickly heating up his body with his inner fire.

Katara twisted so her back was to him again. "You know, for a girl who spent most of her life living in ice huts," he drawled, "you'd think you would handle cold a little better."

"Shut up," Katara said, pulling his arms around her tighter. "I have a cold."

A moment of silence passed, and Zuko could still feel her tremble slightly, so he added even more heat to his hands, which he rubbed up and down her arms. Katara sighed happily and leaned into his touch, muttering, "You're warm…"

Zuko rolled his eyes, but suddenly he sneezed loudly. Katara stiffened for a moment, then twisted around and slapped him in the face, her face red and furious. Zuko hadn't realized it, but when he had sneezed, his grip involuntarily tightened on her…and his left hand happened to be on her chest.

"Pervert!" Katara yelled, slapping him again, then stalked off to the very edge of the cave and sat down, hugging herself.

"What the hell was that for?" Zuko demanded, his cheek burning.

"You grabbed me, you pervert!" Katara yelled, disgusted that she had even put herself in such a position.

Zuko stared at her. "I did no such thing!"

"Lair!"

_Trust me, I would have noticed! _Zuko thought furiously, but decided to keep that comment to himself. "Katara, I would never!"

She glared at him, but couldn't help but wonder. If Zuko had wanted to cop a feel, wouldn't he have done it earlier? And this was _Zuko, _Mr. Stone Face himself! Now that she had calmed down, she couldn't actually believe that he would…

"Katara…" Zuko began, even from her he could hear her teeth chattering, "Just believe me and get over her before you freeze to death."

Katara looked at him, still wondering. He would never…

She slowly shuffled over to him, still glaring at him. As she sat down and scooted into his lap, she hissed, "Touch me again and I will rip your hand off."

Zuko smirked. He couldn't help but admit that he liked it when she talked with fierceness—it reminded him of fire. "I'd like to see you try," he almost laughed, and was rewarded with a sharp elbow in the stomach. This time he did chuckle and wrapped his arms around her.

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And there you have it! It wasn't quite romantic, but I like how it turned out. I know Katara being sensitive to the cold isn't really correct, but I couldn't figure a way around it so…she has a cold. If you like my writing, check out some of my other fanfictions! Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

When Katara awoke, it was still howling outside, and it seemed that she hadn't slept for long. Zuko was still asleep, his chin resting on her shoulder, and his arms wrapped lightly around her middle. Katara blushed, but was grateful for the warmth. She yawned and shifted slightly, and Zuko stirred. He pressed his face into her neck, unwilling to wake up, and Katara blushed madly, fighting the urge to pull away. "Z-Zuko?"

He grumbled and pulled her closer. His mind was finally beginning to pull out of his sleep. "What?" he asked sleepily. He straightened and Katara calmed down.

"Er, just wondering if you were awake," she said hurriedly, the blush fading. He didn't remove his hands from her hips, not realizing they were there. "How much longer do you think this blizzard will keep up?"

"Who knows," Zuko said with a yawn. "But I don't think the others will be able to look for us until it lets up."

Katara sighed, knowing he was right.

"What? Don't want to be with me for that long?" he mused.

"It's not that," Katara said quietly. "I'm just worried about the others."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "They'll be fine. The avatar and Uncle will be able to keep each other warm, never mind that giant beast with all that fur."

"I hope so," Katara said, pressing closer to him. Zuko realized that while he was sleeping his fire had cooled, and he made himself grow warmer. "Thank you," Katara said as she snuggled up to him. Zuko shifted uncomfortably, not used to having someone this close. "Who knew you could be such a gentleman?" she joked.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Very funny. I am a prince, after all."

Katara realized that this was the only peaceful time she'd had alone with him except for the caves in the Earth Kingdom, and after all that, he had attacked her. She frowned. "Hey, Zuko…?"

"What?" he asked, beginning to tire of talking.

"You wouldn't…"

"What?"

"…never mind," Katara said lamely. "It was stupid."

Zuko didn't push it, though he head heard the slight fear in her voice. He had a feeling that it was about him.

She shivered once more against him. "Take your hair down," he ordered.

"Why?"

"To keep you warm."

"You're doing a fine job of that," Katara pointed out, unwilling to move.

She heard him give off an irritated sigh and felt him remove his hands from her. He carefully began to undo her hair, slowly because he didn't want to hurt her, but he didn't quite know how to pull it out.

Katara felt him hesitate and pulled away, turning and reaching behind her. She smiled at Zuko and shook her head, amused that he couldn't figure out how to do it. Zuko glared at her, and she smirked as her hair fell around her shoulders.

Zuko blinked. She looked nice with her hair down like that, it framed her face perfectly, and its wavy texture rolled down her back. Without realizing what he was doing he reached forward and gently pulled it over her shoulders, away from her back.

Katara stared at him, blushing. The way he had gently brushed her hair was a little… affectionate.

Zuko looked at her eyes and gave her an odd look when he saw her confused face. "To keep your front warm," he explained, "Since your back's to me, it wouldn't help."

"Oh," Katara said, now blushing out of embarrassment. Of course Zuko would never…! She resumed her position in his lap.

She heard him say, "You know, you look better with your hair down."

"What?" she asked, not daring to turn around.

Zuko hesitated; he hadn't meant to say that out loud. So he kept his mouth shut.

A moment of silence passed, and Katara asked, "Zuko, why are you being so nice to me?"

"Why not?" he retorted. "Still expecting me to attack you?"

Katara bit her lip. He had hit it on the head.

"I know it sounds stupid, but how can your hands be so warm when your heart is so cold?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Zuko scowled. He didn't like being so distant, it was just the way he was, a result to all he had been through. In his time with the avatar and his group of friends, Zuko would watch them as they laughed and joked around. It came natural to them—but Zuko was different. He remembered that he had been like that, but when his mother…and then he had been exiled, somewhere along the way he had lost it. Zuko watched the group with something similar to envy.

Katara sat uncomfortably against him. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said—"

"You're right," Zuko interrupted.

"What?"

"You're not the first one to say that I have a heart of ice," he said indifferently.

"I didn't—"

"I always thought it was fitting," Zuko continued. "How I was a fire bender. When I was younger, I wasn't good at bending, and I struggled with my lessons. But after I was banished, I was so angry, and suddenly my bending got so much better," he said almost musingly.

"Zuko…" Katara said quietly, not sure how to react. She felt that Zuko had thought about this a lot, but didn't have any one to tell.

"It makes sense, I guess. Fire is normally associated with anger. And destruction. The person who I was is completely destroyed now."

"Zuko, that wasn't your fault." Katara felt like she should console him. She didn't feel pity for him, exactly. More…like it wasn't fair.

"That doesn't change who I am now," he spat, his hands on her flaring with heat.

She winced and said, "But Zuko that change made you stronger, smarter. I'm not saying that you should be proud of everything you've done, but be proud of parts of you. Like your determination."

"And my heart of ice?" he asked spitefully.

"Zuko, it isn't made of ice," she said stubbornly, turning to face him. "It may be cold, but if you were as icy as you think would you be holding me?" she asked.

Zuko realized his hands were still on her, now around her back.

In his hesitation, Katara pointed out, "If you were as cold as you think, you would have removed your hands in a second. Zuko, don't be so hard on yourself. You've done some rotten things," she said bluntly, "But you've also been through a lot. You are a good person, with a good heart, it's just been on ice for a while."

Zuko smirked. "So you're saying that I need to warm it up?"

Katara blinked, her face growing red. The way he had said that was so different from the normal aloof Zuko. "Uh, I guess you could take it that way…"

Still smirking, he leaned in and asked slyly, "And just how do you think I could do that?" He was curious to see how far she was willing to go with this.

Katara's face lost its blush as she said firmly, "Plenty of ways." She had a feeling that he was playing with her, testing if she really wanted to help him. She would prove to him she wasn't just pretending to want to help him.

Zuko sensed her change in attitude, but wasn't ready to give up. Somehow, this had become a game in his mind, and he wouldn't lose. He would just have to step it up a notch.

"Well…I have one idea that could help," he said quietly, his arms softening on her and his eyes gazing at her intently, pulling her a little closer.

Katara knew what he was doing and didn't even blush. "Like being friendlier? That would be a perfect start, you know."

Zuko chuckled softly, saying, "Why don't I start with you?" He now had her in his lap and was a little surprised to see that she didn't look in the least bit uncomfortable.

Katara had to force herself to look at perfect ease now that her knees were on either side of Zuko. If he was going to be stubborn, then so was she. "Or, you could start with Aang and not put it off since he's the one you will probably have the most trouble with."

"But Aang's not here right now," Zuko pointed out, now beginning to enjoy this game, amazed at how Katara still didn't even seem fazed. He ran his hand through her hair, this time pushing it over her shoulder.

Katara suppressed a shudder as his rough hand brushed her neck. How far would he take this until he realized she wasn't going to back down? "Zuko, if you haven't already realized, when we first crawled into this cave you were being friendly. You carried me, and you held me to keep me warm. Heck, that's a step away from being downright _sweet_. You don't have to prove to me anything."

"I didn't say I had to." Zuko's hand was still tangled in her hair. He tried to find a way to continue his game, he liked testing her. Correction—he liked touching her. It was completely forbidden and unknown territory, but Katara was letting him do it anyway, and that made him feel a little excited. "I wanted to see how much you trusted me."

"Zuko, it's going to take a very long time for you to gain my complete trust," she said, rolling her eyes. It was time to end this game, she was getting cold again and she was determined to show Zuko that she could be just as sly. "But I trust you enough to do this." Katara closed the space between them and pressed her mouth to his softly.

Before Zuko realized it, his hand in her hair tightened and pulled her closer slightly, and his lips met hers eagerly. But all too soon Katara pulled away, her cheeks only slightly red. Zuko stared at her, shocked, as she smirked at him.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her mouth, leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I win."

Zuko whipped his hand away from her hair and glared at her, scowling. Katara ignored him and settled her back to him, revealing in the surges of warmth he gave off in his anger.

Zuko was furious. Not only had she took the control away from him, she beat him to the kiss. That was supposed to be only a test, but she used it as a tie-breaker and to make him stop talking so she could feed off his warmth again.

That wasn't the end of it either. Zuko had realized that he wanted it. He wanted to kiss her, just for the hell of it. She had totally ruined his plan. The man was supposed to kiss the girl first, not the other way around. It was a matter of pride. It didn't help that it was obvious that Katara didn't think of it anymore than just a plain show of trust, not an act of passion.

Zuko silently fumed as Katara pressed against his chest, not thinking of anything more than trying to keep herself warm. She grabbed his arm and tried to put it around herself, but Zuko yanked it away.

"Zuko."

"What?" he snapped.

"I'm cold."

"That's nice."

Katara rolled her eyes. "You seriously can't be made that I did that. You were about to do the same thing to me."

"I was not."

"Yes you were."

"I gave you plenty chances to say no," he said heatedly.

"Oh, so becuase I did it out of no where it isn't fair?"

"Katara, be quiet."

"Zuko, I will not until you stop being so—"

He wrapped his arms around her, gritting his teeth. "There. Now shut up."

When the rest of the group went out searching for them, Aang quickly spotted the wall made of ice and dissipated it. Sokka was the first to crawl into the cave and found quite a sight. The fire bender had his arms wrapped around his little sister with his head on her shoulder, both asleep.

"GET OFF MY SISTER!" he yelled, and the rest of the group ducked inside to see what he was yelling at.

Katara and Zuko jerked awake, alarmed. They quickly understood why he was so angry and Katara hurriedly said, "It isn't what it looks like!"

"I was keeping her warm," Zuko said.

"More like taking advantage of my little sister!" Sokka yelled.

"Sokka, he didn't do anything I didn't ask him to!" Katara said loudly, then realized that wasn't the right thing to say. Zuko put a hand to his face as Sokka and Aang froze, while Iroh and Toph smirked. "I-I didn't mean it like that!"

After some hurried explaining, they left the cave. For the next few weeks, the two endured jokes and comments about the incident, and were never left alone since Sokka kept a glaring eye on Zuko and stuck to his sister like glue.

Katara just ignored them, rolling her eyes, but Zuko was having one hell of a time with it. Of course he didn't let the others know and only showed anger on the outside to their comments, but on the inside he was suffering. Everyone kept joking about it, so Zuko couldn't stop thinking about the incident like he had planned. He tried to reject the fact that he liked Katara, but it was impossible. Every time he was around her, his eyes would focus on her lips, he would watch her every move with intent, he would immediately recall the feeling of her in his lap, her mouth pressed to his.

Zuko would not accept the fact that he was infatuated with a water bender, much less an ally of the avatar. It was plain impossible.

So why couldn't he just couldn't stop thinking about her, no matter how hard he tried?

There. I'm not really happy about how sudden the kiss was, but oh well. Please comment, and thanks for reading.


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